See also: Resources section, which includes suggested reading, advocacy tools, sources for statistics, website links and more.

Issue Updates

There are many ways to help ensure that afterschool programs thrive. Vote for candidates who support afterschool programs. Support local legislation that advances afterschool. Promote the benefits of afterschool programs to media and leaders in your community.

One of the easiest and most important things to do is to make sure that your elected officials--who make decisions that affect afterschool in your community-know that you think afterschool programs are critical. Find contact information for your representatives or instantly send them an e-mail from our Legislative Action Center--it's as simple as entering your zip code in the "Contact Congress" box on the left.

The resources below can help you decide what course of action to take and how to do it.

• Why You Need to Get Involved
• Tips for Contacting Policy Makers
• Sample Letters and Organizing Tips
• Afterschool Advocacy Action for 2004
• Learn about State-Level Afterschool Activity
• Contact Your Policy Makers

Why You Need to Get Involved 

The Power of Your Voice
Right now elected officials are being asked to sustain afterschool programs by appropriating money through school, city, state and federal budgets. You know firsthand the profound impact afterschool has on the lives of children, their families and your community. Because you have a story to tell about afterschool, you can be the most effective advocate for sustaining and expanding afterschool programs in your community.

What Does Advocacy Mean?
Advocacy is the process whereby people mobilize to communicate a message to a targeted audience. In this case the audience is elected officials who serve you. The future of afterschool programs lies in the level of commitment that public officials make to fund programs. Your voice will impact their level of commitment.

What Is Your Message?
The future of our children lies in how we take care of them and teach them to grow. Your message to elected officials must convey that in today's society, afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and improve academic achievement.

Your goal is to convince your elected officials that it is in the best interest of people they serve that they support afterschool programs financially. Indeed, three years of national afterschool polling shows that nine of ten American voters believe afterschool programs are a necessity for all children (see Poll Reports). Afterschool programs are what most voters want.

It is your responsibility to get the message out. It is the duty of elected officials to respond. That is why we call them public servants.

*Bear in mind that those of you working in programs that receive federal grants may not use your federal funding to lobby elected officials, although you can communicate the successes of your programs and hopes for continued support.